Justice News

Luzerne County Man Pleads Guilty To Sex Trafficking Of A Minor

The United States Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Pennsylvania announced that a Wilkes-Barre man pleaded guilty yesterday before U.S. District Court Judge Robert D. Mariani in Scranton to sex trafficking of a minor.

According to United States Attorney Peter Smith, the defendant, Travis Humphrey, age 26, admitted that he helped others commit the crime by recruiting and transporting a 16-year-old female to engage in commercial sex acts in motels in Pennsylvania and New Jersey. Humphrey and others rented motel rooms and posted “escort” advertisements and photographs on the backpage.com website during May 2013.

Humphrey was indicted by a federal grand jury in January 2014, as a result of an investigation by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), the Pennsylvania State Police, and the Luzerne County District Attorney’s Office.

Humphrey faces a mandatory minimum sentence of 10 years in prison and a possible maximum sentence of life in prison. Judge Mariani ordered a pre-sentence investigation to be completed and scheduled sentencing for the week of September 22, 2014.

Humphrey’s wife and co-defendant, Kyoni Humphrey, previously pleaded guilty to transporting a female from Pennsylvania to New Jersey to engage in prostitution.

This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse. Led by the United States Attorneys' Offices and the Criminal Division's Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state, and local resources to locate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals who sexually exploit children, and to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.usdoj.gov/psc For more information about internet safety education, please visit www.usdoj.gov/psc and click on the tab "resources."

The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Francis P. Sempa.